Sudden Sickness
by Ariadne Eurydice
Summary: "You fell.. right into my arms.." / Prompt from Tumblr! Comashipping


"Babe." Ash heard the low call from the other room. "Babe!" Just a little louder, but not by much. Then again, Paul was never very loud.

"Yeah?" He answered back, in his lap he was holding their newest addition to their family. Jewel just hummed quietly as Ash fixed her hair with a bow. Paul's voice came from the room again.

"Can you come here?" Ash sat up a bit, as Paul rarely asked for something he couldn't do himself. He leaned forwards and kissed Jewel's cheek, smiling at her gently.

"Go play honey, we'll call you guys in for dinner in a little bit." Jewel nodded in return and ran off to join her brothers and sisters, the rest of the children they'd taken in from Snowpoint's local orphanage.

"ASH." Paul called again, and Ash could hear the annoyed tone on his tongue.

"I'm coming Paul!" He got up and hurried over to the room to see Paul walking towards him, stumbling just a bit. Ash immediately hurried forwards for him, "Honey what's wrong?" Hands out, he held Paul still. "Paul?"

Paul didn't say anything as he went limp, falling forwards. Ash yelped and struggled to catch him.

"Electivire! Infernape!" Ash looked around for help, but the two Pokémon didn't come. Ash just sighed and grunted, adjusting Paul in his arms and began to walk backwards carefully, half dragging his husband back to their room. "I've got you, you're okay." He pulled Paul a little closer as he continued down the hall. "When did you get so heavy?"

Ash gasped and took a break, standing alone in the empty hall. "Hello? Can I get some help?" He looked up and around, it wasn't until maybe a minute later that a tiny Pokémon made his way over. Ash looked down at Corphish as he clapped his claws together and smiled at Ash.

He couldn't help but laugh, "You're so silly you know that right? Come on, help me take your dad to the room."

"Corphish!" The tiny lobster picked up Paul's feet and nodded to Ash and very quickly took off in the direction of the master suite.

* * *

Once Paul was in bed, Ash began pulling off his shoes and tugging off the jeans the man was wearing before checking Paul's temperature. "Thank you Corphish." He handed the Pokémon a treat.

"Cor." Corphish hummed and jumped under the blanket next to Paul. Ash gave it a pat just as the thermometer stopped moving.

He pulled it out and frowned as he looked at Paul. "Well Corphish, your dad's sick." He got up and headed to the bathroom, fixing a cold bowl of water and a few towels. It was as if just hearing the word "sick" had woken Paul because he was sitting up in bed, trying to blink away what Ash guessed was a headache. "Nuh-uh. You lay yourself back down." He set the bowl down and wrung out a cold towel and moved to set it over Paul's forehead.

"I'm fine, it's just a headache." Paul looked at him as he pushed Ash's hand away gently. "I'll be fine."

"You fainted…straight into my arms. Paul." Ash stared at him before he pushed Paul down into bed and placed the cool towel, hurrying to set down the next one. "And I know you're not fine because you never would have called for me if nothing was wrong."

Paul just stared at him and sighed, annoyed that Ash was right. "It's just a cold."

"Just a cold? Paul, come on." Ash just smiled softly, "You know, if you wanted my attention you didn't have to go to such extremes."

"Okay, you don't have to treat me like a baby Ash. I've worked through a sickness before." He reached up to remove the towels.

"But you're my baby." Ash frowned at him, receiving one of Paul's very rare smiles in return. "Yes I know but you've always gotten sicker after. I don't care how important whatever you need to is, you're gonna be on bed rest until you get over this cold."

Ash reached his hand into the bowl and flicked cold water on him, watching as Paul closed his eyes in silent bliss.

"Okay mom." Ash couldn't help but laugh as he leaned down and pressed a kiss to Paul's cheek and got up to tuck him in.

"I'll be back in an hour to change your towels, don't get up, don't do anything. Just sleep." He poured a bit more cold water on Paul and instructed Corphish to use force if needed. "Love you." Ash whispered as he headed for the door.

"I love you more." The answer was quiet, but immediate.

Ash closed the door behind him softly.


End file.
